Cozying up the Kitchen

The kitchen has a specific purpose – food. It is often the social centre for families. It is a source of warm fuzzy feelings, happiness and comforting smells. It is sometimes the centre of entertainment in the home. Let’s explore a variety of decorative and organisational tips to make the space even more inviting.

Functionality with flair
While the kitchen may be a highly functional area, adding aesthetic touches are key to the enjoyment of the space. Let the function of a space inspire your design approach when it comes to colour and accessorising, without becoming redundant or predictable.

Focus on that area from countertop height to cabinet tops. This is the area our eyes zero in on when we look into the kitchen. Keep the counter tops and floors clutter free. Use a cabinet or
appliance garage to coral the clutter. Clutter will make your kitchen appear untidy and not as clean as it should be.

Food inspired colour
The kitchen cries out for a complementary backdrop for colourful fruits and vegetables. This mixture of natural colour is very organic and appealing. Cooler colours let the warmer food colours pop. But warmer colours such as yellows, reds, oranges and greens are inviting and complementary to the natural food colours Some believe that reds and oranges will encourage conversation and the enjoyment of food.

Comfortable function
Adding comfortable seating will encourage gathering and cosiness.  A seating area for reading the paper and casual conversation can be facilitated by the conventional kitchen table and chairs or counter with barstools or you can carve out a special space just for this. Use textiles that are forgiving and would be easy to clean or resist soil and look good for a long time.

Cooking is cool
Just turn on your TV – many cooking shows and channels draw a faithful viewership of millions. Inject some fun into cooking; surround yourself with lots of good cooking books and quality cooking and serving utensils. This takes cooking out of the zone of a chore and into the realm of fun.

Cabinet updates
Minor alterations such as adding trim to the top of the cabinets, changing the hardware or refinishing the cabinets will seriously upgrade your cabinets. Dark cabinet finishes with trim can look very upscale traditional. Clean lines with sleek hardware are very contemporary.

Look for opportunities for incorporating made for purpose storage rather than just open shelves or drawers. Use cutlery dividers, knife blocks, pot drawers, spice racks, appliance garages, etc. This will make cooking and entertaining easier and more functional.

Dress the window
Try something different at the kitchen. In Trinidad, traditionally we put something gathered at the window: a café curtain, maybe a valance... The designs of the ready-mades available are also along these lines. I implore you to get out of the box.
What do you have at the window in your living room or family room? Place something similar in style at your kitchen window and pump up the decorative equity and emotional well-being of your kitchen.